March 29: Post-Match Quotes

Thoughts on D.C. United players:
I thought Fabi trusted his teammates more than he did last game playing and moved well. I thought Eddie was a threat all night long up top. I thought Perry was fantastic and I thought Davy Arnaud, in particular, gave us a real bite and a real energy in the amount of second balls and breaks he started. You know, still stuff to work on with our backs, we should win games that we score two goals in.

On Perry Kitchen’s performance:
He brought a real physicality to the game; I thought he brought a real promise to the game. He was more patient side-to-side, skipped passes. Again, it’s nice when you work on things with a new group and you start to see them evolve, but it is still a draw and I think we feel like we should have walked out of here with a win.

Perry Kitchen – Midfielder, D.C. United

On the goals:
Yeah, I mean I thought it was good from us. I thought we created a lot of chances. I think it’s another step forward, but saying that, I think we’re definitely disappointed not to come out with three.

On closing out the match:
I think it just comes down to not changing how we play. As soon as we went up, I felt that we started to play a little more direct. I think we just need to continue doing what we were doing, what was making us successful and seeing it out.

On his evaluation of the MLS season:
It’s a work in progress. I think every game has gotten better for us. I think if you look back at the Toronto game, that was a step up from Columbus and this game’s definitely a step up from Toronto, so we just have to keep building on it and working forward.

On preparing in practice:
We definitely stressed style of play throughout training this week and I think you could see that in our movements, and how we moved the ball one-two touch; I thought we had some good sequences and that stuff translates. So as long as we keep working on it, I think we’ll see more of that.

On the final goal breakdown:
Yeah, there was definitely a breakdown. You can always break down when you give up a goal. It was disappointing, but we have to move on.

On the sequence leading to the goal:
It was kind of a blur, to be honest. I think Bobby might have kicked the ball two or three times and it just kept coming back and then it finally squirted out to me and I just took a touch and put it home—nothing complicated. I was right there, so pretty basic finish.

On being more versatile:
As a soccer player, you just have to read the game and see what the game needs and sometimes that means me getting forward, sometimes if it’s a game where there’s not much space, I’m going to have to sit back deeper. So, you just have to read the game, and if I get forward, great; if not, no big deal.

Nick DeLeon - Midfielder, D.C. United

On width in the game:
Not by the coaches, just by me. I just like to switch it up, inside-outside and give defenders different looks so it’s not always the same thing.

On evaluating the season:
It’s getting better. We created a ton of chances, more today than we have in the past two games. It’s just about putting those chances away, but I think we’re definitely moving in the right direction. We should’ve had two more goals, but unfortunately we didn’t. I think we’re moving in the right direction.

On the disappointment with a draw:
Yeah definitely, there are a lot of guys who are disappointed and I’m disappointed because we did have so many chances, but if you look at the positive, it was a ton better and we are starting to create chances and that was our problem before. We’ve just got to take our licks and move forward.

Frank Yallop – Chicago Fire, Head Coach

Feeling coming in to the game:
Confident, you know, we have not lost in two and I always look at the positive if I can, and you know we haven’t lost in three, that’s the way I look at it. You know, we haven’t won a game yet this season, but again it’s not easy to win games especially away from home in this league so we are looking forward to playing at home next weekend and hopefully we can get that in.

Sean Johnson – Goalkeeper, Chicago Fire

On the team’s defensive effort:
I thought it was good, to be fair. I thought it was just a bit unfortunate. The second goal there was a bit of a pinball action around. They got good forcing and I thought we had some similar situations where we had the ball in their box and things didn’t really fall our way, but that’s just the way it goes, that’s soccer for you. I think we’ve done well and at the end of the day we got to look at it. We got a point. We came in and I think we deserve three. We played well enough to do three, but it is just up to us to really push over that hump and turn the size in winnings.

On the tough field conditions:
It’s alright, I mean it’s part of the game. We train in Chicago – its been snowy, its been rainy, its been cold, so the conditions we are used to. You know, so it’s nothing we don’t see on a regular basis. The conditions were tough, but at the end of the day, we are professionals, it’s what we signed up for and we deal with it.

Quincy Amarikwa – Forward, Chicago Fire

Third straight tie:
It’s the third straight game we got points, I mean that’s how you got to look at it. Not dropping points, especially on the road, is huge in this league. If you look at teams that make the playoffs on a regular basis, they don’t lose, they at least get a draw or a win and you know that’s how it goes. And if we can come away with points every single time on the road, I will take them.

Difficult conditions:
You know, whenever it is raining like that it can get a little slick and hard to control the ball at times. You saw that last play; Pat played a good ball in behind that took a touch, on a regular field that holds up, for me today, it skips away. Just the elements you’ve got to deal with, and hopefully it starts clearing up everywhere across the league because everywhere we’ve been, the elements haven’t been too kind to us.